The present invention relates to methods of preventing gas coning and gas fingering in hydrocarbon bearing formations. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of preventing gas coning or fingering using high temperature sealants.
Many hydrocarbon bearing formations contain gas as well as oil. Because of its lower density, the gas accumulates at the top of a reservoir and forms what is often called a gas cap.
Usually it is desirable to preferentially produce oil from a formation containing both gas and oil. This is accomplished by cementing the casing through the formation and perforating it only opposite the oil zone. However, there is often a considerable amount of vertical permeability whereby gas is drawn down into the oil bearing portion of the formation as the pressure is reduced when oil flows into the production tubing. When this occurs around the well bore to create an inverted cone shaped volume, it is generally referred to a gas coning. Gas can also preferentially flow through areas of higher permeability such as fractures. When gas flows through these areas into the oil bearing portion of the formation, it is often referred to as fingering.
A number of methods have been developed in an attempt to reduce or solve the problem of gas coning. One such method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,713,906. The method disclosed in this patent attempts to selectively block the formation approximately at the plane of the interface between the normal upper surface of the liquid oil and the overlaying gas cap. This blocking or plugging is achieved by localized, selective deposition of an asphaltic or bituminous material at the liquid-gas interface. This is accomplished by injecting asphaltic material into the formation just below the liquid surface as an asphalt-rich solution in an organic solvent or diluent compatible with the reservoir oil and from which the asphaltic substance is precipitated by contact with the reservoir gas. A sufficient amount of the solvent-asphalt solution is injected to displace the reservoir oil a substantial distance in a radial direction from the well bore at the oil-gas interface. The solvent-asphalt solution thereby makes contact with the reservoir gas at the interface and the asphalt is deposited from the solution.
Another method which has been proposed to prevent or reduce gas coning involves the injection of foams into the hydrocarbon bearing formation. Such a process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,858. According to this process, an MQ-type silicone is pumped into the hydrocarbon bearing formation. The silicone is a foaming agent which can simply be pumped down the well into the entire oil producing formation or it can be pumped into a disk-shaped volume at the oil-gas interface by isolating a portion of the well with packers. As gas tries to flow through the silicone, the gas causes the silicone to foam, thus inhibiting further flow.
Still a further method of preventing gas coning is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,315. This method involves the injection of a polymeric solution into the hydrocarbon containing formation at a location lower in elevation than the gas cap. Preferably, gas is removed from the gas cap during injection to facilitate movement of the polymeric material up into the zones of high permeability between the gas cap and the lower oil bearing portion of the formation. Preferred polymers include partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides, polysaccharide carboxylmethyl cellulose and polyethylene oxide. Water is at least intermittently injected into the gas cap above the deposited polymer layer as oil is subsequently produced from the bottom of the formation.
While these methods have experienced some success they each have their limitations and disadvantages. Accordingly, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a method for preventing gas coning and fingering in which the substance being injected had a substantial depth of penetration to provide a large area of low permeability. It would be a further advancement to provide a system that was thermally stable at higher temperatures. Such methods are disclosed and claimed herein.